“What’s your name?” The other woman came closer, and she looked more like a nun, wearing a black dress that reached the floor and almost covered the tips of her matching black shoes. “I’m Sister Joan.” She was much younger than the first woman, and when she smiled there were no lines on her round, friendly face. She seemed like maybe she was my mom’s age, especially with her blonde hair up in a bun.
The thought startled me badly—I hadn’t thought of my mom in a long time, and the blip of a memory had tears welling up in my eyes that I didn’t have much control over.
“Uh, it’s Phoenix. Like the city.”
“Oh, I love that. Are you full of fire?” Sister Joan laughed, and I was wrong—there were a couple of lines around her blue eyes.
“Not really, no. Sorry.”
She came over to stand beside me, assessing the work I’d already done and nodding as if she approved, which had relief running through me. “Father Gian said you were looking for clothes, too.” She tapped the baby shirts. “I don’t think these will fit. Since you’re helping, let’s get you set up first?”
“Aren’t these for other people?” I asked, not sure she was right. The idea of just taking clothes felt a lot like stealing. I stared at the piled-high tables, then back at Sister Joan.
“They were donated for those in need. Are you in need?”
“Um.... Did Father say I was?”
Her smile became a bit strange but then brightened again. “He did, yes.”
“Then yes.”
The two nuns were nice to me as they took me to a table where there really were a lot of clothes in my size. They sent me to the bathroom to try on pants and shirts, and when they were satisfied, I had enough clothes for about two weeks, if I didn’t mind washing my underwear every day—but that was more than I’d had in a long time, so it didn’t matter. They found a bag for me to put everything in, and afterward helped me track down a pair of sneakers in slightly better shape than the ones I was wearing. Sister Joan thought she was being sneaky when she dumped my old shoes in the trash, but she laughed when she spotted me watching her. It was nice to be able to relax with someone.
“Thank you, Sister Joan,” I murmured, feeling awkward.
Sister Mary patted my arm.
“Now, take these to Father Gian’s office, then come back and fold the rest of the clothes in your size. If you see anything else you want, you can take it.” Sister Joan beamed at me, and I nodded, hefting the large cotton laundry bag from the floor, then slinging it over my shoulder as I went into the hallway.
I frowned because I thought I heard something like a yell, but I had to be imagining things. When I knocked on the door of Father’s office there was no answer, but I’d been told to go in, so I did.
Gasping, I pushed open the door—there was a man holding Daddy against the wall by the throat, and he drove his fist into Daddy’s abs. My mind rioted because he looked a lot like my new Daddy. Did they know each other?
“Stop!”
I didn’t think, I ran over and swung my bag of clothes at the man. He spun, dropping Daddy, and smacked me across the side of the head hard enough my left ear rang, and then he rounded on me and shoved me to the floor. I hissed in pain as he kicked my belly.
“Stop! Fuck, stop, Toma!”
Daddy grabbed Toma and dragged him away from me. Toma snorted and shoved Daddy against the wall again, but at least he wasn’t hitting him. “Hypocrite. You’re still in there, Gian. You’re still the same man you ever were.” He glanced at me and his smile became something that had me cringing. “Exactly the fucking same. These are the kind of men you keep around the church? What could he possibly be doing for you?” His tone was smarmy and I hated it.
“The church is for everyone,” Daddy snarled out.
“Fuck you, Gian. You were family. You were....” Toma shook his head and his face went red. “You’re worse than dirt. I know everyone said to let this go because it’s good to have someone in the church, but I thought we were going to fly together. Make this family strong together. You walked out on us and fed the family lies, andyou’re still doing this.” He pointed at me.
I winced as the man stomped toward me and closed my eyes when he raised his foot to kick me again.
There was a grunt, and when I opened my eyes, Daddy was shoving at the man, and he pushed him right out of the office door, protecting me. Saving me again. I didn’t know what was going on, but I did know that awful stranger was wrong to treat people this way. And Father Gian was my Daddy, even if he didn’t want me to blow him or be ready for him to fuck me.He’d just proven it.I’d do everything I could to make him happy, and maybe, if I did a good enough job, he’d want to do those other things with me someday—even if he was a priest.
4
GIAN
I cursedToma and his penchant for dramatics. He’d always been that way, and I liked to think of it as a hyped-up version of middle-child syndrome. He was born third in his family out of ten kids—if he counted his half-brother, which Toma never would—and he was the third son, too. With his older brother, Riccardo, and his twin, Alessandro, excelling at life, he had a lot to live up to—maybe too much. He showed his strength through aggression and was a mean son of a bitch. Ric had sent Toma here to drop off the money he wanted laundered through the church to be an ass, pure and simple.
As soon as I made sure that Toma had left the church completely—and stopped myself from flipping off his back as he retreated to his illegally parked car at the curb—I raced back to Phoenix and crouched in front of him. I touched his cheek gently, guilt twisting my insides. Phoenix flinched but gave me a brave smile.
“Are you all right?” If Toma had wanted to murder Phoenix, he would’ve kicked him in the face, so he clearly hadn’t been aiming to kill. My cousin didn’t vary his attack tactics much, but Phoenix didn’t know who he was dealing with, and I wanted to keep it that way. The farther away from the Sabbatini family he was, the better. I was stuck with them, but I didn’t want them getting their claws into an innocent, abused man.
